Epic Games released a statement Thursday, April 7, announcing the company’s collaboration with the LEGO Group. The two companies unveil a long-term partnership to design a safe and child-friendly metaverse.
A coalition that flows from source
For Epic Games Founder and CEO Tim Sweeney, this collaboration is a no-brainer, ” The LEGO Group has captured the imaginations of children and adults through creative play for nearly a century. We look forward to building a place together in the Metaverse that will be fun, entertaining, and thoughtful for kids and their families. »
The two companies already benefit from an important video game background: Fortnite, from Epic, is hugely popular with younger audiences. As for LEGO, they have been adapting their bricks for years in video games, the latest to date, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, was released on April 5. Epic Games also has a wealth of experience in creating tools and universes accessible to players and developers from all walks of life.
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Make this metaverse a safe place
Considered a still very nebulous term, a metaverse can represent something totally different depending on the project that carries it. For some, it is a video game where the user can participate in various activities like The Sandbox. For others, it is a question of a social gathering space bringing together different actors like Decentraland.
Although Epic Games and LEGO have not commented on what form theirs will take, for them security must be at the heart of it.
Niels B Christiansen, CEO of the LEGO Group, is certain that children can develop many skills such as creativity, communication and helping each other through online communities. ” Children enjoy playing in digital worlds as much as in the real world and switch between them without problems “, he explains in the communicated. He adds, ” However, we have a responsibility to create a safe, inspiring and beneficial place for all. In the same way that we have protected our children in the outside world, we will do so for digital environments. »
To achieve this, the two partner companies have agreed on three principles that will ensure a fun and secure metaverse:
- Guarantee children’s right to play by making safety and well-being a priority,
- Protect children’s privacy by putting their best interests first,
- Give kids and adults the tools to take control of their digital experience.
Epic Games also recalls having acquired SuperAwesome in 2020, a company specializing in the development of tools for the safety of young users on the web.
The LEGO and Epic proposal may make you smile, but it questions the exposure of children to increasingly young virtual universes. Facebook had been the subject of controversy when it released its Messengers Kids service, which had major security flaws, and more recently Instagram Kids, whose development was put on hold last September. By emphasizing security, the two partners hope not to fall into the same controversies.